Once you have enabled encryption on your database, every time the database is opened the key store must be authenticated.

If you enable autostart, the authentication is done automatically. If autostart is not enabled, you must manually authenticate. To manually authenticate the key store, every utility, server, or client that opens the database, must supply a passphrase.

ABL clients specify a passphrase for key store authentication by adding the -KeyStorePassPhrase argument, followed by the passphrase to the CONNECT statement, as shown:

It is the responsibility of the ABL application to handle prompting for the passphrase before executing the CONNECT statement.

Database utilities, servers, and self-service clients indicate that they require a prompt for key store authentication by adding the following parameter to the command line:

You will be prompted for the passphrase, but there is no echoing of keystrokes to the window.

If you have specified the key store user account for autostart, you can override your autostart authentication by adding -Passphrase or -KeystorePassPhrase, as appropriate for the command.

If access to the key store cannot be successfully authenticated, the database cannot be opened.